It’s reassuring that former Liberal federal MP Fred Chaney is now a champion of good, transparent government, as advocated by the climate independents (or Teals), one of whom is niece Kate Chaney in the Perth seat of Curtin. But was that always the case?
‘’The major political parties put party interest before national interest in my view,’’ Chaney told ABC Radio today. ‘And ’I’m sick of being a quiet Australian. I think like a lot of Australians I’m fed up by the way the system of government has operated over recent parliaments, and I think it’s time for a change, and I think that change will only come if the major parties are forced to change.’’
He went on: ‘’We’ve got people in Parliament now whose primary interest is the business of politics, and not enough interest in the business of good government, and I like to think that in previous generations there were people there whose primary concern was the national interest, who really looked at the facts and tried to get the right answers rather than saying ‘what’s the political answer we can get away with today and that’s the way we’ll go’.’’
What Chaney does not mention, and what isn’t canvassed in the glowing profiles, open column space and soft interviews that he attracts for his stance, is his role in perhaps the biggest betrayal of trust performed by politicians in Australia’s parliamentary history.
As Liberal senator for Western Australia in 1975, Chaney played a key role in a strike against constitutional government by the Coalition. And he stuck with the party line, against claims that the national interest was being imperilled, until the bitter end.
Chaney was one of the 29 Coalition senators who voted as a bloc to deny the passage of the Whitlam government’s budget. This tactic was the keystone of the strategy by Coalition opposition, led by Malcolm Fraser, to force out a Labor government that had won two elections in three years (and whose legislative program had been frustrated by those same Coalition senators).
The longer the senators opposed the budget, the less certain became the government’s ability to pay public servants and the military. The senators were indifferent to public pressure to relent and pass the budget, although some later admitted they doubted the strategy.
This crisis lasted a month and ended with the dismissal of the Whitlam government by the governor-general, now regarded as the worst example of constitutional vandalism in 120 years of Federation.
Yes, that was nearly 50 years ago. The Whitlam government was plagued by scandal and accusations of economic mismanagement. And over the years Chaney has won many accolades for his efforts in Indigenous affairs. He is widely respected nationwide, hence his platform today. But when in power, Chaney saw party interest and national interest as one and the same.
‘’The major political parties put party interest ahead of national interest in my view,’’ he declaimed today. Would never have happened in his day.
Mark Sawyer is a journalist with extensive experience in print and digital media in Sydney, Melbourne and rural Australia.